India, France & UN discuss countering terror financing as Pakistan stays on FATF grey list

On Friday, India and France co-hosted a virtual event that emphasized countering the financing of terrorism in the post-COVID-19 landscape, at the second United Nations Counter-terrorism week. Taking to Twitter, the Ambassador of India to United Nations TS Tirumurti said, "Delighted to co-host with France & UN partners, High-Level event #CTWeek on "Countering Financing of Terrorism in the post-Covid landscape-- India follows International standards, National Risk Assessment is undertaken regularly, Cash couriers major terror financing method."

In yet another tweet, the Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations added that the event focused on:-

• New risks from pandemic e.g fake charities & NPOs, crowdfunding, exploiting blockchain tech
• India talked about upgrading its Financial Intelligence Network (FINNET)
• India contributed USD one million to the United Nations Trust Fund for Counter-Terrorism.
• Hold accountable States financing terrorism
• Need to strengthen FATF 

In 2004, India had set up its financial intelligence infrastructure which serves as notional monitoring and investigation agency for money laundering and terror financing. According to a UN statement, countries that hosted the program along with India included Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, Nigeria, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

This comes on a day that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has continued to keep Pakistan on its grey list, for terror-financing and money laundering, despite the Imran Khan government's desperate attempts to portray a crackdown on the terrorists on its soil. Suspicions remain that the purported terror attack on Thursday at terrorist Hafiz Saeed's residence in Lahore was a part of an effort to play a victim card before the FATF's decision.

Accelerating Citizen-Centric Energy Transition

On June 23, the Ambassador of India to the United Nations co-hosted a special event at the United Nations HLDE 2021 on India's efforts to achieve the 2030 agenda. The event - Accelerating Citizen-Centric Energy Transition - was co-hosted with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) at UN's High-level Dialogue on Energy 2021.

(With ANI Inputs)

(Image Credits: UN/@ambtstirumurti-Twitter)